McCain Offers Help for Enzi After Cheney Challenge (Transcript)

July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain, the Republican
Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, said in an interview on
Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,”
airing this weekend, that he’s willing to campaign for Wyoming
Senator Mike Enzi, who’s facing a primary challenge from
Republican Liz Cheney, a daughter of former Vice President Dick
Cheney.

(This is not a legal transcript. Bloomberg LP cannot
guarantee its accuracy.)

AL HUNT: We begin the program with Arizona Senator John
McCain, who’s practically running the Senate these days.
Senator, you were - you did really orchestrate the deal that
avoided a nuclear showdown, the nuclear option showdown. And
there were votes on the Obama nominees.

Just look ahead a little bit. Are there going to - we know
this doesn’t apply to judicial nominees, but how about other
executive branch nominees? For instance, could the nominee for
Fed chairman to succeed Bernanke be filibustered?

JOHN MCCAIN: I think it could, Al, but, first, could I
just back up a second? I was in constant contact, and it was a
collective effort. People like Bob Corker and Hoeven and my
beloved Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte and Susan Collins, I
mean, it was a large number of us that were discussing this.
Also, Chuck Schumer, whose word is good and - and Harry Reid.
And Mitch McConnell was very heavily engaged.

Look, what we got to have is a tone and an environment in
the United States Senate. We didn’t change the rules, so
therefore, if all of a sudden there’s an uprising and we want to
block things again, then we can do that. And Harry Reid can
react.

HUNT: But do you think this changes the environment when -

MCCAIN: I believe it does. I believe our success on
immigration reform - I believe that this - we just did a student
loan bill, which is a significant step forward. There’s a real
desire out there to - to work together, I’ve always proceeded on
the one principle that elections have consequences. And unless
there’s a reason to override, there’s got to be - well, the deal
we made on judges, extraordinary circumstances.

HUNT: You have been very critical of the administration’s
handling of the Russians, as they’ve been playing games with
Edward Snowden. Lindsey Graham has suggested we ought to
consider boycotting the Winter Olympics. What specific actions
should we take to show Putin that this is unacceptable?

MCCAIN: Expand the Magnitsky bill. For those of our viewers
who don’t know, that was the result of Sergei Magnitsky, who was
a man who was tried, imprisoned, beaten, cruelly, and murdered,
basically, in prison. We passed a bill that put many sanctions
on individuals that had to do with his death and other human
rights abuses.

The State Department and the Treasury Department
interpreted it very narrowly. Only 18 people. We could - because
there are so many human rights abuses going on in Russia, you
could easily expand that number. They hate it, because it
prevents them from doing certain things that they want to do.

The second thing is, remember we said we’d scale back our
missile defense, which was aimed at Iranian, defense against
Iranian missiles anyway? Say we’re going to - we’re going to
reinvigorate our European missile defense systems. It’s
defensive. It’s not offensive to the Russians.

There are several other - and we ought to be speaking up
more, you know? You and I are old enough to remember there was a
guy named Ronald Reagan. He used to speak up for people. There
was a woman who was -

HUNT: And Obama ought to do that more?

MCCAIN: He should do it more. It was Jeane Kirkpatrick at
the UN. We just made a wonderful nomination to be our UN
ambassador in Samantha Power. She’s going to - she says she’s
going to speak up for Americans, speak up in these international
forums.

HUNT: Let me turn to immigration, speaking of speaking up,
because you said the other day that, boy, the pro-immigration
forces have got to be more active. What do you want to see? What
should the president do? And what are the consequences for
Republicans if it dies?

MCCAIN: I think the president has been handling it right,
because if the president interferes too much, then obviously it
alienates some of the people we need to support it. We need to
have - the broadest coalition I’ve ever seen is behind this
bill, business, labor, the evangelicals, Catholic Church, high
tech, ag business, ag workers -

They have to be contacting their elected representatives
that they are important, that they - that their representatives
represent, and say, look, we want you to look at this issue.
Don’t we agree that 11 million people in the shadows is de facto
amnesty? Don’t you think we ought to act?

HUNT: And the consequences for Republicans if the House
kills it?

MCCAIN: Oh, I think they’re - they’re - they’re terrible.
But the consequences for the country are worse. Are we going to
sit around - 11 million people? Do you know how some of these
people are exploited, Al? You know, pick up a guy on the corner
and have him work all day, and then say, “To heck with you, I’m
not paying you. Call the cops if you don’t like it.”

I mean, they have no protections of our law and our
society. I’m no bleeding-heart liberal; you know that. But, my
God, we need to resolve this issue.

HUNT: Speaking of things that you think are awful, the
sequester. The sequester, it is rather universally agreed is
bad, it’s bad for the military, it’s bad for NIH, it’s bad for a
whole lot of things, but there does not seem to be the political
will to change it. You say you want to be active in the budget
talks. Everybody thinks you will be. To change it, you have to
do some tough stuff, don’t you? You have to really address both
entitlements and higher revenues to replace the sequester.

MCCAIN: Sure, you do. Sure, you do. We all know you do. And
on sequester -

HUNT: Is that possible?

MCCAIN: And on sequestration, it’s the worst. At least when
you make budget cuts, you can give the agencies the choice as to
what cuts they can make. This is - this is the meat ax, if there
ever was one. And what it’s doing to our military is really
terrible. I talk to -

HUNT: Do you think we can change it?

MCCAIN: I think we can. I think we have to, again, get
together and have negotiations with the White House, with - you
know, I think I’m confident that we can, because it’s
devastating.

Small example. We just had 19 of our brave, wonderful
people killed in Yarnell, the forest fire there. Do you know
right now, the way the sequestration is going to act, it’s going
to cut our ability to suppress forest fires by some $140
million? We’re not going to be able to fight forest fires?
What’s that all about?

HUNT: Senator, you have served in the Senate with another
westerner for 18 years, Mike Enzi of Wyoming.

MCCAIN: Yes.

HUNT: This week, Liz Cheney, the vice president’s daughter,
announced that she was challenging him, saying it’s time for a
new generation of senators. Your reaction?

MCCAIN: My reaction is, if someone wants to run for office,
that’s fine with me. I will never, ever tell someone they
shouldn’t run for office, and that’s Liz Cheney or any other
American citizen who’s qualified. But I - I have grown to admire
and respect Mike Enzi.

I’ll tell you, he’s one of these solid guys. You know the
old line that Carl Hayden, our own senator from Arizona, said
workhorses and show horses. If there is ever the epitome of a
workhorse, it is one Mike Enzi. Do you know there’s nobody in
the Senate that knows more about health-care issues than Mike
Enzi? There is nobody who has worked harder on many of our
taxation issues and others. I don’t know a person in our
conference that doesn’t admire, respect, and have great
affection for Mike Enzi.

HUNT: You’re supporting him, I guess?

MCCAIN: And - and - and by the way, I - I wish I were as
well respected as Mike Enzi, and certainly I have - I know
nothing that Mike Enzi would do that didn’t deserve re-election,
but it’s up to the people of Wyoming. But if he wants me out
there talking to our veterans how he’s really taking care of
them, I’ll look forward to it.

HUNT: Final question. Nothing’s been more interesting in
Washington in the last five or six years than the John McCain-Barack Obama relationship. Give us the sense of how you think it
is today and how it’s evolved.

MCCAIN: First of all, could I say, there are a lot of
people named Al Hunt and others that when I was going against
President Bush, I said that Rumsfeld ought to resign, I voted
against the tax cuts because they weren’t paid for, I was great,
the brave maverick. Then, now, it’s President Obama and McCain
fights him every step of the way on Obamacare, oh, he’s the
angry, bitter, old man. Yeah, he’s all done. He’s a - I’m the
same guy. I had to get that plug in.

The president of the United States is an honorable man. The
president of the United States is looking at his legacy. We have
been working together for a long time now on - on a variety of
issues. And I want to work with him on issues that will help the
country. We have profound differences on many issues, but on the
areas that we agree on, I want to do everything I can. This
country’s too divided -

HUNT: So it’s a really pretty good working relationship
now?

MCCAIN: Oh, sure. Yes. Yes. It’s one of mutual respect,
which I believe we’ve always had, but the president of the
United States looks at his legacy, as every president has who’s
in two terms, and I think that he - issues that he has taken a
different attitude than when he came to the presidency with 60
votes in the Senate, overwhelming majority in the House, where
he really didn’t have to worry about Republicans, as you
remember.

HUNT: Well, I’m glad to see that he’s not an angry old man
anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: John McCain, thank you so much for being with us.

***END OF TRANSCRIPT***

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